Over the holidays, I could have eaten my way through a week’s salary of these delicious Organic Cranberry Hazelnut Crisps by Potter’s Crackers.  As delicious as they are, they are NOT gluten free and besides, they could destroy a food budget in a heartbeat.  So, I created this recipe for Gluten Free Cranberry Hazelnut Crisps so I can enjoy this special cracker any time – not just at the holidays.

These are so easy to make and customizable.  I sort of reverse engineered the Potter cracker and used that ingredient statement to get me started.  In place of the whole wheat flour, I used my Gluten Free Whole Grain Flour Mix.  Then there is a balance of dried fruit, seeds and nuts.  I decided to start with a cup of dried fruit – so divided that with raisins and dried cranberries.  I put in a cup of small seeds and divided that among pepitas, sunflower and sesame seeds.  And, a half cup of hazelnuts.

These crisps are customizable!

But if you wanted to customize, you could pick and choose any of the following:

For the dried fruit:  apricots, figs, cranberries, cherries, dates, currants, sultanas (golden raisins), blueberries, etc.

For the nuts:  cashews, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, almonds, peanuts, etc.

For the seeds:  poppy seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, etc.

And, of course, if you wanted to add spices, the combinations would be limitless.  I love fennel with hot pepper flakes or fresh rosemary, or basil and garlic to name a few.  And, of course this classic combination of orange and cranberry.  The orange zest in this recipe actually comes from kumquats.  My tree is loaded and I’m putting them in everything.

The cracker gets its sweetness from a combination of brown sugar, honey and molasses.  And buttermilk has that great flavor of both tart and buttery that combines with the baking soda to give the bread that wonderful rise.

You don’t even need a mixer for this recipe.  Just whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Then I add all the seeds, fruit and nuts to coat them with the dry ingredients.  That helps keep all those heavy ingredients from sinking to the bottom of the pan.  Combine all the other wet ingredients and stir it all together.

Pan Selection!

As far as pan selection, I truly love these mini loaf pans which gives a nice sized cracker.  Or you could use two 8″x4″ loaf pans.  I think if you go larger than that, the cracker will be too large.  And, as an alternative, you could use empty 16 ounce vegetable cans.  I used that trick with GF Old Fashioned Boston Brown Bread.

After you bake the bread, it needs to be completely cool before you move on to the slicing step.  In fact, freezing the bread for a couple of hours before slicing is advisable.  You want super thin slices – about an 1/8th of an inch.  And, if you want to delay this step to another day, wrap and freeze the cooled loaves.  Let the bread thaw about 40 to 45 minutes and use a serrated knife to slice.

Preheat oven to 300F and place slices on parchment-lined cookie sheets in a single layer.  They can be close together, but not touching.  Bake about 15 minutes and then turn over each slice and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes until toasted.  Once the crackers cool, they’ll crisp up.

Store the cooled crackers in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to a week.  To store longer, freeze for up to 6 months.

Serve with your favorite selection of cheeses or this Swiss Cheese Spread that will post in a few days.

Deb Farina

Yields 8 dozen

Gluten Free Cranberry Hazelnut Crisps

20 minPrep Time

30 minCook Time

50 minTotal Time

Recipe Image

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups (8.8 ounces) Gluten Free Farina Whole Grain Flour
  • 2 teaspoons guar gum or 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 Tablespoon molasses
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups (16 ounces) buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/3 cup sesame seeds
  • 1/3 cup pepitas (seeded pumpkin seeds)
  • 1/3 cup seeded sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup hazelnuts
  • zest of 1 orange

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Grease 5 mini loaf pans or 2 – 8″x4″ loaf pans.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, guar, baking soda, brown sugar and salt.
  4. Add all dried fruit, seeds, nuts and zest and stir to combine.
  5. Combine honey, molasses and buttermilk and add to dry ingredients.
  6. Mix together with a spatula. Let sit 1 minute to hydrate.
  7. Divide mixture among prepared pans.
  8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until center springs back when touched.
  9. Let cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.
  10. Cool completely.
  11. In order to slice thinly, it’s best to freeze the bread for a few hours. If you freeze completely, let the bread thaw for 45 minutes or so before slicing.
  12. Preheat oven to 300F.
  13. Spread out sliced bread in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Turn over and bake an additional 15 minutes or until bread has toasted to a golden brown. They crisp upon cooling.
  14. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months.

Notes

Adapted from Dinner with Julie

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http://glutenfreefarina.com/2017/01/08/gluten-free-cranberry-hazelnut-crisps/

Buon Appetito!

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